Recount Shows Gejdenson Victory

Unofficial Results Give Incumbent Four-vote Margin

November 15, 1994|By KATHRYN KRANHOLD; Courant Staff Writer

After five days of recounting votes in 54 towns, Democratic U.S. Rep. Sam Gejdenson was the unofficial winner in the 2nd Congressional District Monday night -- holding onto his election night victory over Republican Edward W. Munster by four votes.

With the last vote recounted in Willington, Gejdenson appeared to have gained two votes during the recounting process in the nationally watched race, bringing his lead to four votes, according to unofficial tallies by both the Gejdenson and Munster campaigns.

FOR THE RECORD - Correction ran on November 18, 1994 on page A2.* Election Day returns in the 1984 race for Indiana's 8th Congressional District seat showed incumbent Democrat Frank McCloskey as the apparent winner over Republican Richard D. McIntyre, by 72 votes. But in mid-December of 1984, after a recount, Indiana's Republican secretary of state certified McIntyre as the winner. When the new Congress convened in January 1985, House Democrats refused to seat McIntyre and initiated a congressional recount of Indiana results. That recount resulted in McCloskey's being declared the winner, amid controversy. A Courant story on Page 1 Wednesday -- which mentioned comparisons between that Indiana controversy and this year's 2nd Congressional District race in Connecticut -- said that McIntyre, not McCloskey, won by 72 votes in the initial count. A Courant story on Tuesday also gave the impression that the initial returns showed McIntyre winning.

The recounted tally will not be official, however, until it is examined and announced today by the office of Secretary of the State Pauline R. Kezer.

Also, if Gejdenson is indeed declared the official winner, his continuation in Congress is by no means assured. Republicans said they would challenge the outcome in court -- and, ultimately, to the U.S. House of Representatives itself, which has constitutional authority over whether to seat an individual as one of its members.

That challenge, Republicans said, would not be made until the new Congress is seated in January -- and then it will be Republican-controlled.

Last week, the initial count by the secretary of the state's office showed that Gejdenson won by two votes, with 79,169 votes to Munster's 79,167. A Connecticut Party nominee David B. Bingham had 27,729 votes.

After votes were recounted Monday night in Willington, the last of the eastern Connecticut district's 54 towns to be recounted, both campaigns agreed that the new tally by all the towns put Gejdenson four votes ahead of Munster. The Associated Press put the new totals at 79,154 for Munster; 79,158 for Gejdenson; and 27,755 for Bingham.

Although both sides agreed the recount showed a four-vote lead for Gejdenson, they did not agree that the recounted ballots all were valid -- which will undoubtedly provide a basis for a legal challenge. For example, Munster supporters said absentee ballots were tainted by discrepancies in the way people marked them in different towns.

The recount began Thursday, triggered automatically by the slight margin reported election night. Voting officials in the district recounted the absentee ballots and rechecked the voting machines.

Even before today's expected announcement of the official totals, Munster's campaign spoke confidently of taking over the seat through appeals. Lou Keezing, a Munster spokesman, said that the U.S. House of Representatives, soon to be Republican-controlled, will make the ultimate decision.

Keezing said that members of the House have the authority to conduct their own recount and review the absentee ballots for irregularities -- and he believed that they would.

``You're talking about a dead heat,'' he said. ``A victory by three or four votes certainly can't be considered a mandate [for Gejdenson]. Congressman Munster's future depends on how he serves his constituents, not how he gets into office.''

Keezing was joined at Monday's Willington recount by Republican State Chairman John Mastropietro and a Washington, D.C., election lawyer, Ben Ginsberg.

Mastropietro pointed out that a similar situation -- only in reverse -- occurred in 1984 in Indiana. In that congressional race, a Republican challenger, Richard D. McIntyre, defeated a Democratic incumbent, Frank McCloskey. A recount was conducted by state election officials -- just as has happened in Connecticut -- and McIntyre was declared the winner.

When the Democrat-controlled House convened in January of 1985, it refused to swear McIntyre in, and Congress conducted an investigation into the election. A committee consisting of two Democrats and one Republican then did its own recount of the ballots, including the absentee ballots, and McCloskey came out ahead -- by four votes.

McCloskey was sworn in by his colleagues in May 1985. House Republicans reacted bitterly. To protest what they thought was an unfair process, Republican House members walked out of the chamber after the vote to seat McCloskey.

Mastropietro and Keezing said that a Republican-controlled congressional election panel would likely give every advantage to Munster -- although using proper procedures -- and they expected, come January, that Munster would be seated in the new Congress.

Ginsberg had the same view.

``When Sam Gejdenson was a congressman, Richard McIntyre came in with a valid election, ahead by 12 votes,'' said Ginsberg, who was involved with that campaign. ``Sam Gejdenson voted not to seat him.''

Gejdenson's attorney, Robert Martino, said that McCloskey was seated after a fair recount of the votes. Martino said that Congress would have to do the same in this race, evaluating the absentee ballots based on Connecticut's laws.

``I think that they have a different interpretation of what the Congress will do,'' said Martino, of Hartford.

Gejdenson's political director, Donna Parson, said that she thought the House would ``look foolish'' if it unseated Gejdenson after he won through two counts.

Neither Gejdenson nor Munster appeared at the town meeting hall in Willington Monday night.

The recount in Congress would not get started before January, if Munster does indeed appeal the race that far. First, Munster has the option of appealing the race to the state Supreme Court. That appeared to be a formality, however.

Mastropietro, Ginsberg and Keezing all said that the race would be decided by Congress. ``There are enough irregularities to warrant this going to the House of Representatives,'' Mastropietro said.

Gejdenson sent a prepared statement thanking his supporters, campaign staff and volunteers.

``I look forward to continuing my fight in Congress for the issues that are important to the 2nd Congressional District. The fight for the sub base, the Seawolf, increased exports and jobs throughout the district will continue to be my top priorities,'' he said in the statement.